


My Heart Can Never Be Your Home

by Annwithoutane



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Bisexual Remus Lupin, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gay Sirius Black, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mary Macdonald and Remus Lupin are platonic soulmates, Minor Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Remus Lupin is So Done, School friends reunite, Scottish Remus Lupin, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Sirius and Remus work at a record shop, Summer Vacation, University Student Remus Lupin, University Student Sirius Black, lots of music is mentioned, remus and sirius are coworkers, sirius is a dumbass but what's new?, song fic maybe?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:22:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29756796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annwithoutane/pseuds/Annwithoutane
Summary: "Did you lie to your mam one too many times then? About having a boyfriend, I mean."The shorter boy stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief, "How the fuck did you figure that out?""I've done the same thing to my mam. God, she absolutely had my guts for garters when she found out I wasn't telling the truth. Set me up on a god awful date with some bloke called Gilderoy who was a right arse. I reckon it was payback,"Sirius was still staring at him. "You like -""Yes, Sirius, I like boys -" Remus smirked. "and girls actually, I'm not fussy,""Uh, right. Didn't know that's all. Thanks for telling me." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I - I don't know what to do. I can't tell her on my own because she'll worry and try to set me up on endless dates again. It's sweet but I'm really not comfortable with it and I don't have a boyfriend to bring. I'm fucked, aren't I?"Or the one where Sirius lied to his mother one too many times about having a boyfriend and ropes his very attractive coworker into his hairbrained scheme
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	My Heart Can Never Be Your Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, long time no see. I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter but at least I wrote something and don't worry if you've come from my other fic 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' I will be editing that and completely rewriting it because I wasn't happy with the plot holes or the way I wrote it so that should be happening and hopefully I'll finish it
> 
> The title of this story is a lyric from the song 'Stand By Me by Oasis
> 
> A/N: There's lots of albums and songs referenced in this story because after all both Remus and Sirius are slight music snobs and work in a record shop so music is going to be mentioned a lot but all of the records and songs will be in the end notes

As the sun spilt through the large arch windows of the small quaint record shop that was located on the corner of a random London street nestled between a bakery and a vintage clothes shop; Remus couldn't help but enjoy the peace and quiet that came with doing the Wednesday morning shift. The day was warm and the breeze was gentle and refreshing; Remus' favourite song was playing on the radio and there was the odd customer sifting through the hundreds of records available here.

He also didn't mind putting the latest order of records away in their designated places. That was probably the bit he liked the most about his job; other than his coworker, Sirius.

The pair had become rather fast friends ever since Remus had started working at Aberforth Records Six months ago and now every Friday afternoon, during their shift, they would each pick out a record and listen to it together. These interactions - on top of Sirius being incredibly attractive in the first place - meant that Remus had definitely developed some kind of feelings towards the other man who was now standing behind the counter ringing up a teenager's purchase.

The bell on top of the door rang and Remus assumed from where he was putting away the newest stock (a lot of seventies punk records, Remus noticed, and he wondered if that was Sirius' doing) that the teenage girl had walked out of the shop.

"Hey, need any help with those?"

Remus looked up to find Sirius walking over to him with a lazy grin on his face. His hair was thrown up in a bun, in what Remus assumed to be an attempt to keep his hair from sticking to the back of his neck and he has shucked his leather jacket off to reveal what had obviously once been a Led Zeppelin t-shirt that had been turned into a tank-top by someone rather haphazardly cutting the sleeves off. 

"Nah, you're alright. Thanks though, mate," Remus smiled back. "Was it you by any chance who ordered this month's stock?"

Sirius gave him a wry smile. "Might have done."

"I thought so. I knew it was you what with the amount of punk music there is here," Remus smirked as he flourished the last four records he had in his hands at Sirius to prove his point before putting them away in their correct places. They were all punk rock records from the 70s - _Inflammable Material; London Calling; Singles Going Steady and Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols._

Sirius barked out a laugh but he nodded all the same. "Fair enough. It's harder to tell when you've done it though, if I'm being honest."

"That's because - unlike you - I'm unbiased. I order stock based off of what's popular; what people always buy, a few wildcards and then the odd one I think everyone should listen to," Remus remarked, as he walked back to the counter followed by Sirius.

"Is that why on every other order _The Bends_ and _Unknown Pleasures_ is delivered?"

"Might be."

Sirius laughed again; rather too loudly this time as a customer who milling about gave him a rather weird look causing Remus to snort with laughter. Remus could admit that Sirius was most attractive when he was laughing; strands of his dark hair were falling out of his bun and into his face; his eyes were scrunched up slightly but there was a massive, blinding grin on his face.

When he had recovered, Remus began to move behind the counter - incase the one customer milling about it finally decided to buy something - and watched as Sirius swung himself up on the counter so he was sitting on it. 

"I don't think I've ever seen the store this quiet, to be honest."

He was right though, in the six months he'd been working at the shop, Remus had hardly ever seen the store this quiet or empty, mainly because it was situated between the Uni's that Remus and Sirius attended which meant that most days it was ram-packed with students but he supposed now that the summer holiday had started their usual customers weren't here. 

The stood together quietly for the next few minutes or so with Sirius sat on the counter, legs swinging out in front of him and Remus bent over it with his elbows resting on the counter and hands propping his head up; looking out over the small shop. Remus loved this place with all it's dark open-faced brick and fairy lights that had been strung across the shop which had apparently been Sirius' doing. On the right wall, there was also band paraphernalia such as t-shirts and posters placed in frames and hung up tastefully on the wall and next to those was a tall shelving unit that Remus and Sirius used as their 'staff pick shelves'

A while later, the bell on the shop door rung and Remus turned to see a small woman in her mid-fifties with dark skin and wild black curls opening the shop door. Gently, Remus tugged on Sirius' wrist to get his attention and he shot him a look as if to say "get off the counter,".

"Sirius," The lady said with a warm smile as soon as she stepped into the shop. Remus frowned lightly, trying to figure out how Sirius and the lady knew each other. 

"Effie, what are you doing here?" Sirius asked as he jumped off the counter before giving the woman a kiss on the cheek. Remus now knew, upon hearing the woman's name, that this was Sirius' adoptive mother who the boy had mentioned on occasion. 

"I was on my way to tennis and well, I needed to talk to you so I thought I'd stop by,"

"Effie, I'm at work," Remus heard Sirius whine as he slunk into the backroom to give the mother and son some space but it didn't mean he still couldn't hear them. 

"I'm aware of that, Sirius," Effie said, dryly and Remus couldn't help but like Sirius' mother. "but it's of the utmost imprtance -"

"James isn't hurt, is he?" Sirius interrupted. "What about Lily?" 

Remus got up and decided to shuffle some boxes about to make it look like he'd come in here for a reason as Effie said, "No, no. You're brother's fine, dear, and so is his girlfriend. I'm here to talk to you about the holiday."

Sirius had mentioned that he'd be taking three or so weeks off of work to go spend time with his family down by the sea and it was endearing to Remus how excited he was over it. 

"I've already told you, I've booked the next three weeks off for it,"

"I know that, Sirius, dear. I came to ask about your boyfriend,"

Remus frowned at that remark as far as he was aware, Sirius didn't have a boyfriend but then again it wasn't Remus business and it didn't surprise him that Sirius had a boyfriend. 

"My - um - my boyfriend?" He heard Sirius stammer.

"Yes, your boyfriend," Effie huffed. "Every time I ask whether you're seeing someone you're very insistent that you are and, well, it's been seven months since you first mentioned him," 

Remus let out a small laugh then, as he pieced together the conversation. Remus knew well enough what Sirius had done, he'd done the same thing to his mum a couple of times now. 

"Don't tell me that you've broken up and you forget to mention it?" Effie sighed. 

Right time to go and save the poor sod, Remus thought as he popped his head round the door and flashed Effie a polite smile.

"Hey, Sirius, can I borrow you for a minute? There's a box here that I can't quite lift by myself," Sirius nodded, looking slightly relieved.

"I'll be back in a minute, Mum," He said as he followed Remus into the backroom.

Remus grabbed his wrist gently and pulled him over to the far end of the room before whispering, "Did you lie to your mam one too many times then? About having a boyfriend, I mean."

The shorter boy stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief, "How the fuck did you figure that out?"

"I've done the same thing to my mam. God, she absolutely had my guts for garters when she found out I wasn't telling the truth. Set me up on a god awful date with some bloke called Gilderoy who was a right arse. I reckon it was payback,"

Sirius was still staring at him. "You like -"

"Aye, I like blokes -" Remus smirked. "and girls actually, I'm not fussy,"

"Uh, right. Didn't know that's all. Thanks for telling me." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I - I don't know what to do. I can't tell her on my own because she'll worry and try to set me up on endless dates again. It's sweet but I'm really not comfortable with it and I don't have a boyfriend to bring. I'm fucked, aren't I?"

"I believe so," Remus smirked

"You are absolutely no fucking help," Sirius smiled. "What do I do?"

"I dunno, that's on you. Though if I were you, I'd bear in mind that if you keep lying to her it might come and bite you on the arse,"

Pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers, Sirius let out a long suffering sigh before saying, "I should head back out so she doesn't think this is weird," and Remus watched as he walked out of the back room leaving him stood there. 

"All sorted?" Remus heard Effie ask as he started shifting boxes around so he had something to do. 

"Yeah, it was just a rather big crate of records. We had our new stock come in today," Sirius half lied. There wasn't a crate of records to be lifted just then but the new stock had come in that morning.

"That's nice," She said, clearly not paying attention. "Now this boyfriend of yours. What's happened with him? Have you broken up, Sirius?"

"Course I haven't broken up with him, Mum!" Sirius shouted a bit too defensively, causing Remus to try and stifle a laugh from where he was moving boxes in the backroom. He wondered why Sirius just didn't tell her the truth, but he knew why, it was evidently clear that Sirius didn't want to upset or worry his mum in any capacity.

"Good, good. Now, I want him to come on holiday with us. It's been awhile since you first mentioned him and I think you might be at that stage where he can meet the family,"

"We're not at that stage yet, Effie. Seven months isn't nearly enough time and before you argue I'm not the only one who thinks that," Sirius argued back

"Oi, Remus!" Remus grinned when he heard his name and moments later, he poked his head round the door of the backroom so he was looking at Sirius and his mother.

"Yes, Sirius?"

"Do you think that at about seven months your boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, whatever, should meet your parents?"

Remus shot Sirius, what they both knew to be his shit eating grin. "I guess," he shrugged. "I mean when it comes to my relationships, my mam wants to meet the lucky lad or lass in the first two weeks so seven months seems like a pretty long time in my books."

'You little shit," Remus head Sirius grumble as he slunk back into the backroom and started moving a box of band posters to where the other boxes where.

"Well, Sirius, my point's been proven. I'd like to meet him, anyone would think that you're ashamed of us - or him - with the way you're hiding your relationship. I don't even know his name," 

"His name?"

"Yes, Sirius. His name,"

"I thought I told you," He heard Sirius stammer. "Well it's um - it's - Remus."

Remus stopped dead in his tracks then, before stumbling slightly over a box full of t-shirts sending the box in his hands flying. "Fuck, shit,"

"Remus? Is that -" Effie asked. 

"Remus, babe? Come here a minute," Sirius called out. Remus was going to fucking kill him.

"Aye?" He asked through gritted teeth, glaring at Sirius. Hoping that the other boy knew how annoyed he was that he'd been roped into Sirius' ridiculous lie. 

"That's him? Why didn't you introduce us when I first walked in?" Effie huffed. Sirius opened his mouth to talk but Effie barreled on. "Thank God though, I was starting to think that your boyfriend might have been a drug dealer or something just as dodgy with the way you've been hiding him! She exclaimed and Remus' anger and shock faded momentarily to laugh at her outburst.

"Oh, Sirius, he's wonderful. Just look at him!" She gushed as she made her way behind the counter.

"Mum, you can't come round here -" Sirius began but it was too late, she had already made her way behind the counter and was currently engulfing Remus' wiry frame in a hug. 

"Remus, dear," She said, finally letting go of him. "Thank you for taking Sirius on,"

"Bloody hell, mum, you're making it sound like he's just given me a fucking job," Sirius laughed as he pulled himself up onto the counter.

"Shush, you," Effie waved her hand dismissively at her son. "Now, Remus, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," She said reaching up to cup Remus' cheek though he did have to stoop down quite a bit so she could actually reach. "Now, I must get on - I've got Tennis with the ladies - but I want you to come on holiday with us for three weeks. We've got a nice little cottage by the sea, and I'm sure that Sirius would want you to come,"

"Mum, I don't think -"

"Please say you'll come,"

"Mum, please -"

"Look, Sirius, you know I won't take no for an answer,"

"I'd love to come, Effie," Remus said through gritted teeth, shooting a glare at Sirius. 

"Oh, that's wonderful," Effie beamed as she clapped her hands together excitedly. "I'm sure James and Lily will be thrilled,"

"I best be off or I'll be late for Tennis and you know Mrs. Goldstein will absolutely have my head if I am. I'll see you later, Sirius," She said giving him a peck on the cheek. "Remus, it was a pleasure to finally meet you and I'll see you in a week or so,"

As soon as the bell above the door rang again and Effie had stepped out of the shop, Remus turned to Sirius, raising one eyebrow as if to ask what the hell?

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I panicked," Sirius smiled apologetically as he rubbed his neck.

"I cannae fucking believe you! You're an utter bawbag, d'you know that?" Remus sighed. He knew his accent was slipping out more so than it already did but that was because he was losing focus. He tried so hard to soften it but now that it wasn't his main concern, it was slipping back out.

"I have no bloody clue what a bawbag is, well, actually I could take a pretty good guess at it," Sirius shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry. I panicked and you were there. Will you do it? I mean, pretend to be dating me? I just really don't want to upset Mum and besides, you'll get a free holiday and you'll also really love Lily which is good - not for me though, you two would be an unstoppable force. And -

Remus let out a long suffering sigh. He didn't want to lie to Sirius' parents but he also didn't mind the idea of pretending to be Sirius' boyfriend just to see what it would be like. Besides, it would be nice to go on holiday especially since he couldn't go back to Glasgow this summer to visit his parents due to expenses. "Fine, I'll do it."

"No, that's stupid. I cant ask you to lie for me. I'll tell Effie that you can't make it because Look, I can tell Effie that you can't make it because your mum's ill or -" Sirius blabbered until he stopped abruptly and looked at Remus with wide eyes. "Wait, what did you say?" 

"I'll do it. But you owe me big time,"

Sirius broke out into a grin as he swung himself off of the counter and bearhugged Remus tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He said, tilting his head up to shoot Remus a grin. "I'll tell James and Lily about our agreement so that we don't have to pretend in front of them," Sirius blabbered as he pulled away.

"I cannae believe I'm fucking doing this," Remus huffed, putting his head in his hands.

"Neither can I be too honest,"

**Author's Note:**

> Records and songs mentioned:  
> 1\. Stand By Me - Oasis (Be Here Now, 2002)  
> 2\. Inflammable Material - Stiff Little Fingers (1979)  
> 3\. London Calling - The Clash (1979)  
> 4\. Singles Going Steady - Buzzcocks (1979)  
> 5\. Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols - The Sex Pistols (1977)  
> 6\. The Bends - Radiohead (1994)  
> 7\. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division (1979)
> 
> Thanks for reading ;)


End file.
